Thursday, May 27, 2010

"We're with the Government.."

Yesterday I had a Telemarketer call from some energy assessment bureau who claimed to be working hand in hand "with the Government."

They were offering a free energy assessment of my home. Any day of the week, 7am to 10pm, only takes 2 hours for the average home - "and I see you live in a unit so it shouldn't take very long at all. I assume it's quite small."

Once the assessor finishes assessing my energy use he would then send me a report telling me the steps I can take to minimise my energy wastage.

Hmmm... I wonder if he would also recommend certain companies to do the work too?

A quick google search sheds more like on this scheme:

1. a FREE home sustainability assessment & report (valued at over $250)2. access to a Green Loans subsidyprovided by participating financial institutions to cover four years of interest for bor rowing up to $10,000 to buy and install green products (Obligation Free).

Sounds a lot like the government insulation scam... I mean scheme... that worked sooo well.

So, if I may be so bold as to suggest what's going on here: A company that sells "green" products for homes hires its own "independent assessors" to visit homes and make recommendations. The government pays for the assessments, thus costing the company nothing, and the assessor makes lots of recommendations as to how the home owner can spend every cent of their Green Loan with the company.

The Telemarketer was shocked that I didn't want a free assessment. "But it's FREE!" So it sounds like they must be doing a roaring trade.

Bottom line, if people are phoning you to sell (or even give stuff away) at random, JUST SAY NO!

Even if they say they are "with the Government".

UPDATE:

You need to read this report here as I just did. I was right. It's the insulation scheme all over again. Though it seems I may be wrong about the assessors recommending certain companies. It looks like the scam is the assessments themselves!

" I am also aware, for example, that Fieldforce is using telemarketing companies to cold call and canvass businesses. That was not part of the rules. The assessors were told that they were not allowed to do that. Assessors have now become so desperate that they are buying bookings from the telemarketers."

Comments

"We're with the Government.."

Yesterday I had a Telemarketer call from some energy assessment bureau who claimed to be working hand in hand "with the Government."

They were offering a free energy assessment of my home. Any day of the week, 7am to 10pm, only takes 2 hours for the average home - "and I see you live in a unit so it shouldn't take very long at all. I assume it's quite small."

Once the assessor finishes assessing my energy use he would then send me a report telling me the steps I can take to minimise my energy wastage.

Hmmm... I wonder if he would also recommend certain companies to do the work too?

A quick google search sheds more like on this scheme:

1. a FREE home sustainability assessment & report (valued at over $250)2. access to a Green Loans subsidyprovided by participating financial institutions to cover four years of interest for bor rowing up to $10,000 to buy and install green products (Obligation Free).

Sounds a lot like the government insulation scam... I mean scheme... that worked sooo well.

So, if I may be so bold as to suggest what's going on here: A company that sells "green" products for homes hires its own "independent assessors" to visit homes and make recommendations. The government pays for the assessments, thus costing the company nothing, and the assessor makes lots of recommendations as to how the home owner can spend every cent of their Green Loan with the company.

The Telemarketer was shocked that I didn't want a free assessment. "But it's FREE!" So it sounds like they must be doing a roaring trade.

Bottom line, if people are phoning you to sell (or even give stuff away) at random, JUST SAY NO!

Even if they say they are "with the Government".

UPDATE:

You need to read this report here as I just did. I was right. It's the insulation scheme all over again. Though it seems I may be wrong about the assessors recommending certain companies. It looks like the scam is the assessments themselves!

" I am also aware, for example, that Fieldforce is using telemarketing companies to cold call and canvass businesses. That was not part of the rules. The assessors were told that they were not allowed to do that. Assessors have now become so desperate that they are buying bookings from the telemarketers."